Data communications is one of the fastest growing segments of the telecommunications industry. Bandwidth, speed, latency, reliability, security, and Quality of Service (QoS) remain paramount concerns for data communications networks. However, current data communication networks connect to and often include the public telephone system, which was originally designed for analog (voice) communications. The public telephone system places inherent limits on the development of efficient, high-speed, digital data transmissions.
Currently data routing through a central switching office occurs across a local loop, which often consists of Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) copper cable. As is understood by one skilled in the art, UTP cable is a low-frequency transmission media and has a limited frequency range of approximately 300 Hz to 3300 Hz. While data rates of 100 Mbps are possible for short distances across UTP cable, 56 Kbps generally is considered the standard rate for analog telephone lines. Thus, the transmission media most often used by the central switching offices of local telephone companies is not conducive to high-speed data transmission.
While Local Area Networks (LANs) within company offices can operate at speeds measured in Gigabits per second (Gbps), data transmissions between offices over Wide Area Networks (WANs) and Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs) are subject to the speed constraints of the so-called “last mile.” The “last mile” refers to the physical copper connection of local access lines between the central switching office of a telephone company and an end-user, lines that typically are controlled by RBOCs (Regional Bell Operating Companies) and other telecommunications companies. These companies have invested billions of dollars in building the “last mile” with UTP cable, but such technology now acts as a bottleneck to the transmission of large data files and streaming media between offices outside the LAN. Currently there are few incentives for the RBOCs and other telecommunications companies to rapidly implement new technology solutions and replace this installed copper base of UTP.
Bandwidth is also a defining element in allowing state-of-the-art applications to fully exploit their capabilities. When data is sent to and from branch offices, bandwidth is critical to making the files useful. As applications grow more complex, the various types of files (data, graphic, audio, video, etc.) have tended to grow larger and larger. For example, medical networks require high-speed data rates to achieve timely and efficient data communications between separate facilities, such as hospitals, clinics and research institutes, but UTP cable does not transmit well over anything but very short distances. Currently, data from most medical equipment, such as a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) system, cannot be efficiently transmitted between separate facilities because the data files (which frequently include numerous images) are typically too large. For instance, an MRI system, which may be used to help diagnose tumors in a cancer patient, requires specialized software (such as what is known as “syngo”) for high-resolution imaging and produces image files in a standard format (such as a DICOM file format) that may include hundreds of image files. The problem is the present bandwidth of most medical intranets cannot achieve the necessary speeds for efficient data transmission between facilities outside of a LAN environment.
Remote hosting has also been restricted by the limitations of the public telephone network. Typically, an Internet Service Provider (ISP) or other web hosting company provides a server for back-up service. Connectivity beyond the physical limitations of the 10/100 Base-T Ethernet cables is available through dedicated lines, dial-up access, etc., but connection speeds drop dramatically once outside the Ethernet network. For example, speeds within the LAN using Ethernet vary from 10 Mbps to 10 Gbps, while speeds outside the LAN on UTP cable vary from 56 Kbps to 45 Mbps. The legacy transmission media and its protocols of the public telephone system are the main reasons for the slower data rates.
The present invention attempts to address such limitations of current data communications between WANs and MANs with Ethernet Optical Area Network (EOAN) systems. Such EOAN systems extend the LAN infrastructure of companies and organizations beyond the physical boundaries of the office or campus. The present invention is based on the Ethernet protocol, which is the current standard transmission protocol for LANs. The present invention provides routerless and server-less network access to outside networks at the same speed at which a computer inside an office is connected to a LAN. Such EOAN systems, for example, will allow businesses within the same metropolitan area to create private networks with unparalleled speed and ease of management at a fraction of the present cost.
EOAN systems provide companies and organizations within the same metropolitan area with high-speed data communications via Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, and 10 Gigabit Ethernet. In accordance with the present invention, EOAN systems enable companies and organizations to communicate with each other at data rates that are potentially more than 80 times current bandwidth connections. The present invention can attain such high-speed data rates by combining wireless connections, fiber optics, and Ethernet capable switches to create a network that has the ability to deliver Terabits of information over metropolitan area networks and that is cost-effective for small to medium-sized businesses. The interconnectivity of EOAN systems provides data transport for a variety of services, which may include private network security, satellite office interconnectivity, carrier grade Voice over IP (VoIP), ultra high-speed Internet access, real-time remote imaging, high quality video conferencing, real-time distance learning, cooperative data environments, etc.